A strange and beutiful phenomenon:

2014/05/23: RTCC: EU calls for clean energy focus at UN climate talksTechnical, not political, talks on efficiency and renewables should form basis of pre-2020 climate ambition, says EU Technical discussions on topics such as energy efficiency and renewables should form the basis of global efforts to tackle climate change more ambitiously between now and 2020, the EU has said.

2014/05/20: RTCC: Bonn climate talks: low ministerial turnout expectedJust 22% of governments sending ministers to June UN climate talks, raising doubt over engagement with process Only 43 of a possible 196 government ministers are currently scheduled to attend a special ‘high level’ session at the next round of UN climate change negotiations, aimed at boosting carbon cutting measures in the next seven years.

Post WG1/WG2/WG3 commentary:

2014/05/23: RTCC: Saudis accused of deleting part of UN climate science report [WG3]British scientist expresses his surprise when parts of IPCC text were ‘mutilated’ at April meeting in Berlin A coalition led by Saudi Arabia attempted to mask their contribution to rising levels of greenhouse gas emissions during discussions at the UN’s most recent climate science meeting. That’s the charge laid by John Broome, a British philosopher and economist at Oxford University, and contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report. He’s not the first to make these accusations – that prize goes to Giovanni Baiocchi, an economist at the University of Maryland. But Broome is the first to offer a compelling narrative of how the four-day Berlin meeting of IPCC Working Group 3 scientists in April unfolded. In a detailed blog published on May 20 he says the ‘Summary for Policymakers’, a concise document that pulls together thousands of pages of work, was “mutilated” by government officials.

This lawsuit is shaping up to define a new dimension of conflict:

2014/05/19: WaPo: Climate change: Get ready or get sued[…]Now a major insurance company is suing Chicago-area municipal governments saying they knew of the risks posed by climate change and should have been better prepared. The class-action lawsuits raise the question of who is liable for the costs of global warming.

And on the Bottom Line:

2014/05/24: PhilStar: WB: Climate change cost Phl $18.6 BManila, Philippines – Economic damage and other losses amounted to at least $18.6 billion or P799 billion, while around 10,000 people who were killed due to Typhoons Yolanda, Ondoy, Pepeng and Sendong, according to the World Bank (WB).

It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. The previous Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said decades. Now the Japanese government is talking about 30 years. [Whoops, that has now been updated to 40 years.]And the IAEA is now saying 40 years too.[Now some people are talking about a century or more. Sealing it in concrete for 500 years.]We’ll see.At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.Meanwhile…It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima. Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information. One has to evaluate both the content and the source of propagated information.How knowledgeable are they [about nuclear power and about Japan]?Do they have an agenda?Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear?Do they want to write a good news story?Do they want to write a bad news story?Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalism?Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down-ness?One fundamental question I would like to see answered:If the reactors are in meltdown, how can they be in cold shutdown?

2014/05/21: RT: 90% of Fukushima crew fled failing nuclear power plantAround 90 percent of workers at Fukushima nuclear power plant fled the crippled facility at the height of the 2011 meltdown, according to a previously undisclosed report that challenges the timeline of events surrounding the disaster. A copy of the document, consisting of more than 400 pages obtained by the Japanese Asahi Shimbun newspaper said that four days after the plant was hit by a tsunami, employees abandoned their posts at the plant, fearing that the core of No. 2 reactor could go into meltdown, contaminating the area.

2014/05/21: WNN: Fukushima groundwater released to seaThe first groundwater diverted from the Fukushima Daiichi plant has been released into the sea after tests showed that contamination was well below permissible levels. The bypass system will significantly reduce the volume of contaminated water that Tepco must deal with.

2014/05/22: CBC: 2014 hurricane season forecast releasedThe U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday predicted a “near or below normal” 2014 Atlantic hurricane season, with eight to 13 tropical storms and three to six hurricanes, one or two of which would reach major Category 3 status.

2014/05/20: CNN: What is causing Balkans weather misery?The Balkans are enduring the worst flooding in 120 years, since record keeping began – 26 bodies have been recovered, and rescuers expect to find more as waters recede – The low pressure system drenching the peninsula is known as a “cutoff low” – Last week, the cutoff low lasted up to four days and dumped two months’ worth of rain[…]A cutoff low is similar to an eddy in the curve of a river that becomes isolated from the main current. Like a curve in a river, a cutoff low begins as a dip (trough) in the winds known as the westerlies. When one of these eddies becomes cut off from the main westerly flow, the closed circulation can last for two to three days on average. In the case of last week, the cutoff low lasted up to four days and dumped two months’ worth of rain. During the first stage of a cutoff low, a deep trough of cold air will dip south resembling an upside-down Omega-type shape in the jetstream. Cold air will then start to encircle the low on the west side, as the warm humid air moves north along the east side of the low. Eventually the warm air will wrap completely around, creating a pocket of cold air within the core of the low pressure system. The low will now drift slower than if it was a part of the main jetstream. Over the course of an average of two to three days — occasionally as much as 10 or more — the low-pressure system will merge back with the jetstream as the next dip (trough) digs southward and picks up the cutoff low.

2014/05/20: BBC: Lost snake species rediscovered in MexicoA lost species of snake that eluded scientists for nearly 80 years has been rediscovered in Mexico, a US museum says. The Clarion Nightsnake was found on the Pacific island of Clarion in Mexico by a researcher from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.

2014/05/20: BBC: UK overseas wildlife ‘needs protection’[…]The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has reported that 94% of unique British species live outside the UK – and some urgently need protection. The RSPB report concerns 14 territories – relics of empire scattered from the South Pacific to the Mediterranean.

And on the extinction watch:

2014/05/21: UN: UN adopts new global platform to tackle wildlife, forest crimeIn response to the rising levels of illicit trafficking of fauna and flora, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has adopted a new global platform taking aim at this “particularly devastating’ form of organized crime involving a raft of illegal activities – from poaching to timber smuggling and money laundering.

The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern. And then, there are the Neonicotinoids:

2014/05/19: CBC: Serbian flooding crews work to protect power plantEvacuation of 12 Serbian communities complicates efforts to protect power plant in Balkans flooding Serbian authorities ordered the urgent evacuation of 12 villages and towns along the raging Sava River today, including one where soldiers, police and volunteers have been working round the clock to protect Serbia’s main power plant. The coal-fired Nikola Tesla power plant, which supplies electricity for half of Serbia and most of Belgrade, lies in the flood-hit town of Obrenovac, 20 kilometres upstream of the capital. Emergency crews have so far defended the power plant by building high walls of sandbags but it’s not clear those will withstand the force of an upcoming river surge.

2014/05/18: HiIzuru: A Direct ChallengeAs most of you know, I recently received a threatening letter from the University of Queensland. This letter made a variety of threats and demands. The the strangest one was it suggested I’d be sued if I showed anyone the letter. Today, I intend to challenge that claim.

And on the carbon trading front:

2014/05/22: BBC: ‘Callous’ firms in carbon credit scam shut downA web of firms that sold carbon credits to vulnerable investors at inflated prices has been shut down in the High Court on grounds of public interest. Eco-Synergies Ltd bought credits for 65p each, selling them to investors via other firms for up to an 869% profit.

2014/05/19: EurActiv: EU figures show carbon credit glut persists, but offset data withheldEnvironmentalists reacted with dismay after new EU figures for 2013 showed that the flagship Emissions Trading System (ETS) was still over-supplied by 2.1 billion carbon allowances and data on carbon offsetting was partially withheld. The ETS is supposed to drive carbon dioxide emissions reductions in Europe and help EU states meet the bloc’s climate targets. But at E5 per tonne of CO2, carbon allowances provide industry with little incentive to switch from cheap coal to more expensive alternatives, such as renewable energy, or gas.

On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:

2014/05/20: PLNA: Gas Supply to Europe Depends on Ukraine ItselfEurope’s gas supply depends on Ukraine’s reliability for gas transit and the fulfillment of their obligations, said Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev after confirming his country’s commitments as a supplier. “We cannot neglect the fact that there is Ukraine between the European Union and Russia,” Medvedev told in an interview to Bloomberg TV. “If the Ukrainian market is stable and if Ukrainians fulfill all of their obligations, Europe will receive what it is entitled to in full,” Medvedev said.

Geopolitics: A major geopolitical shift seems to be underway, of which the Syria, Ukraine, Russia, China and Iran tensions are aspects. I do not know how this will turn out. We may be looking at a return to a bipolar world, although unipolar and multipolar results are possible. Hopefully, without resorting to war.

2014/05/23: PLNA: Putin Highlights Failure of Unipolar ModelRussian President Vladimir Putin highlighted here today the failure of the unipolar-world model and the attempts to dictate guidelines in politics and economy from hegemonic positions. During an extensive speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin said that the fiasco of that model is obvious to everyone, including those who try to live in the past and maintain a monopoly, dictating their rules in politics, trade, finance, and imposing cultural standards. “The world really is changing rapidly,” said Putin. “We see enormous geopolitical, technological and structural changes, and meanwhile, the failure of the unipolar order,” the Russian president emphasized before thousands of guests, representatives of delegations and foreign companies.

2014/05/19: RT: ‘West may end up isolated if Russia turns East’Russia is about to hitch its wagon to the fastest growing economy and largest market in the world, Business New Europe editor Ben Aris told RT, adding that the West will ultimately be playing catch-up after its efforts to isolate Russia with sanctions.

2014/05/19: TruthDig: The Birth of a Eurasian CenturyA specter is haunting Washington, an unnerving vision of a Sino-Russian alliance wedded to an expansive symbiosis of trade and commerce across much of the Eurasian land mass — at the expense of the United States. And no wonder Washington is anxious.

2014/05/22: VoxEU: The problem with TTIP by L Alan WintersMost economists cheer the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership that the EU is currently negotiating with the US. This column argues it is a pity that it has emerged. It sees the exclusion of China in particular as an existential threat to the world trading system. It urges policymakers in the EU to focus instead on the world trading system or even consider an agreement with China.

Well damn! They dragged the FQD [Fuel Quality Directive] debate out so long the dilbit is shipping:

Remember the YPF – Repsol fandango in Argentina?

2014/05/24: BBC: Spanish oil company Repsol ends operations in ArgentinaSpanish oil company Repsol has ended its operations in Argentina, two years after the government seized its assets. Last month the Argentine congress gave final approval to pay $5bn (£3bn) in compensation for Repsol’s stake in Argentine oil firm YPF. The Spanish company has now announced that it has sold the last batch of bonds it received to cover its losses.

2014/05/24: Reuters: EU set for election ‘Super Sunday,’ with far-right vote in spotlightEuropean elections reach their culmination on “Super Sunday” when the remaining 20 of the EU’s 28 countries go to the polls, with the vote expected to confirm the dominance of pro-European centrists despite a rise in support for the far-right and left. Germany, France, Spain and Poland are among the major EU member states voting on Sunday, representing the bulk of the 388 million Europeans eligible to cast ballots and elect the 751 deputies to sit in the European Parliament from 2014-2019.

2014/05/23: ABC(Au): Whitehaven protester pleads guilty for sending false press releaseThe anti-coal mine protester who sent a false press release that sent Whitehaven shares plunging has pleaded guilty to disseminating false information. Jonathan Moylan, a 26-year-old activist from Newcastle, sent out a fake press release in January 2013, purporting to be from ANZ. The fake release said the bank had decided to withdraw its $1.2 billion in funding from Whitehaven’s Maules Creek [coal] mine project in New South Wales.

2014/05/22: ABC(Au): Greater Taree City Council approves controversial coastal zone management planA rock wall running two kilometres along the beach at Old Bar, east of Taree has moved closer to reality. The Greater Taree City Council last night voted to adopt a Coastal Zone Management Plan, for 32 kilometres of coastline from Black Head to Crowdy Head. The plan includes a rock wall at Old Bar, and Greater Taree Mayor Paul Hogan said it has proved controversial. He said many years of research has found the revetment wall is the best option.

2014/05/22: ABC(Au): $23.4m solar farm to power Cape York mining townThe Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) says a landmark project to supply solar power to a Cape York mining town will pave the way for other miners to adopt renewable energy and offset diesel use. First Solar and Ingenero will build a 6.7 megawatt solar farm at Rio Tinto Alcan’s Weipa bauxite operations, powering the mine, the township and local port. ARENA is partly funding the $23.4 million project, which is scheduled for completion in 2017

2014/05/22: ABC(Au): Climate activism research shows new move to localismThe protesters at various mine sites around northern NSW, and the way local farmers are actually quite supportive of the protests, are all part of a relatively new phenomenon in terms of climate activism. Joint research by the University of Sydney and the University of Technology Sydney has found a new focus for climate change activism, localism.

2014/05/20: BBerg: Australia Wine Scandal Sets Up State Power Sale: Real M&AA bottle of 1959 Penfolds Grange wine has opened the door to Asia’s biggest ever sale of power assets. After failing to disclose a gift of the $2,800 vintage, New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell quit last month. His successor Mike Baird, a former banker at Deutsche Bank AG, says Australia’s most populous state needs to shore up infrastructure by investing in roads, railways and bridges. He may sell a state-owned electricity distribution network valued at $33 billion to help pay for them, an amount that would be triple the size of any single sale of electricity or gas assets in Asia, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The steady returns offered by the regulated power assets could attract buyers such as State Grid Corp. of China or global pension funds, Morningstar Inc. said.

Now we get to watch the suppository of wisdom destroy what little Australia has done to fight climate change:

2014/05/25: ABC(Au): Racial Discrimination Act: Protesters march in Lakemba against changes to Section 18cUp to 800 protesters have marched in south-west Sydney calling on the Abbott Government to keep Section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act. The march through Lakemba, titled Walk For Respect – Keep 18C, was organised by Opposition finance spokesman Tony Burke. Mr Burke holds the federal seat of Watson, which includes the diverse and multicultural suburbs of Lakemba, Belmore, Campsie and Strathfield. Earlier this year Attorney-General George Brandis announced the Government wanted to repeal key parts of the Racial Discrimination Act, including Section 18c which currently makes it illegal to publicly “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” a person or a group of people.

2014/05/23: BBerg: Siemens Says Australian Cuts May Hurt Wind-Power Plans at MinesSiemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering company, said it’s concerned that Australia’s plans to scrap its renewable energy agency may hurt efforts to bring wind turbines to remote mines. Siemens is considering projects to provide wind power to mining and resources operations, and wants to move forward with its first plant this year, David Pryke, its vice president of energy in Australia, said by phone. The first wind-diesel projects probably depend on government funds, he said.

2014/05/22: RNE: Euro ambassadors ‘shocked’ by Australia’s anti-climate stanceAustralia’s growing isolation on international climate policy has been highlighted after several European ambassadors broke with diplomat protocol and directly criticised Australia’s domestic policies. The ambassadors, speaking at a function at ANU, said they were “surprised” and “shocked” that Australia was seeking to remove a carbon price and a market mechanism, and was not including environment issues on the G20 conference it is hosting later this year.

2014/05/20: ABC(Au): Carbon credits from culling feral animals hits the dustPlans to cull feral animals in exchange for carbon credits has been gunned down by the latest policy change to Australia’s struggling carbon market. Dr Tim Moore from NetPositive has spent years working on a methodology for culling feral camels in exchange for credits under the Federal Government’s Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI). He says when in Opposition, Environment Minister Greg Hunt was supportive of the proposal, but that support appears to have been lost.

2014/05/19: WSWS: Thousands march in Australian cities against budgetThousands of people attended “March Australia” rallies on Sunday to protest against the harsh budget measures announced last week by the Liberal-National government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Some 10,000 marched in Sydney, up to 7,000 in Adelaide, similar numbers in Melbourne and 1,500 in Perth. Some 500 people rallied in Brisbane and Hobart.

2014/05/18: TheAge: An island of action denialIt is obvious after last week’s budget that Australia is no longer part of the world’s weather patterns. Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Treasurer Joe Hockey have, in effect, excised the continent from the global climate, and lowered a dome of denial to prevent any penetration from outside forces of nature.

2014/05/23: ABC(Au): Deutsche Bank backtracks on Abbott PointDeutsche Bank which helped re-finance the Abbot Point coal terminal in Queensland last year now says it won’t consider investing again without assurances from the federal government and UNESCO that the coal terminal will not damage the Great Barrier Reef.

After years of wrangling, the Murray Darling Basin Plan is in place, but the water management fights are far from finished:

2014/05/23: ABC(Au): Bribie water treatment plant closes temporarilyBribie Island’s water treatment plant has been temporarily shut down due to falling water levels in the underground aquifer. SEQ Water’s Mike Foster says it is the only treatment plant in the south-east Queensland grid that draws water from the aquifer. He says it is the first time the plant has been closed since it was built almost 10 years ago and water is being piped in from the Sunshine Coast and the North Pine Dam.

The Federal and now the State Liberals are bent on trashing the hard won Tasmanian forest deal:

2014/05/19: ABC(Au): Federal Government reviews Tasmanian world heritage recommendationThe Federal Government is reviewing a draft World Heritage Committee decision to reject an application to delist some Tasmanian forests. The government has applied to rescind the listing of 74,000 hectares of forest added to the World Heritage Area last year under Labor, saying they are not worthy of protection The UNESCO committee’s final decision is set to be made next month at a meeting in Doha

2014/05/22: G&M: Memo contradicts Harper’s stance on emission limitsThe United States has implemented limits on emissions from the oil and gas sector that are “significant” and “comparable” to those the Conservative government is considering, says a newly released Environment Canada memo, one that contradicts Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s assertion that Canada is waiting for the U.S. regulations before it will act.

Incoming PR campaign! Expect more lies and spin:

2014/05/22: BBerg: Canada Said to Aim to Bolster Aboriginal Pipeline SupportThe Canadian government is poised to take another step to boost support for pipelines as it prepares to rule on Enbridge Inc.’s proposed Northern Gateway project. Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford plans to announce his department will set up a new branch office based in British Columbia to oversee discussions with aboriginal groups, two people briefed on the matter said yesterday. The announcement may take place as early as next week, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

2014/05/19: NNW: Resource sector takes matters into its own hands with PR campaignWhen it comes to persuading Canadians and the U.S. of the merits of oil pipelines and natural resources, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been no Don Draper. The Keystone XL pipeline appears to be caught in a perpetual American political limbo, and Enbridge’s Northern Gateway plan is hampered by strong local opposition, to name just two projects. A cabinet approach that involved attacking environmental groups has been roundly criticized as poor strategy. Now a variety of Canadian sectors are taking a page from those same environmentalist groups, coming together behind a public relations strategy meant to mobilize the public in a way the feds haven’t been able to. The latest high-level campaign hosted by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, called the Partnership for Resource Trade, includes among its advisory members major oil and gas, mining, forestry, agrifood and transportation associations, as well as academics.

2014/05/22: PostMedia: Russia-China gas deal puts heat on B.C.’s LNG sectorStill room for exports from B.C. but must move quickly, proponents say A $400-billion deal that calls for construction of a major natural gas pipeline from Russia to China cast a shadow over the opening of Premier Christy Clark’s second annual conference to promote the development of a liquefied natural gas industry in British Columbia. Clark downplayed the news, saying the deal between China and Russia was expected and will not disadvantage B.C.’s LNG development plans. But industry insiders said the deal heightens competition in the marketplace and will force the province to act quickly and make its tax regime more competitive.

2014/05/18: CBC: Alberta energy regulator shutting off discussions, critics sayRegulator only obliged to allow those ‘directly and adversly affected’ to speak at hearings Critics say Albertans are in danger of being shut out of discussions on how the province’s natural resources are developed. Expert observers and opposition politicians worry Alberta’s new energy regulator is drawing the circle of who can speak so tightly that one hearing on a proposed energy project had to be cancelled because no one was allowed to appear.

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

2014/05/20: CBC: Resolute sues Rainforest Alliance over ‘biased’ auditCanada’s biggest forest products company is suing because of an unflattering audit of its logging practices in northern Ontario. Resolute Forest Products is suing the Rainforest Alliance because their draft audit recommended the company’s FSC certificate — an environmental stamp of approval for the industry — be suspended. According to court documents filed by the company, the 2014 audit said Resolute is not complying with good environmental standards.

2014/05/19: BBerg: Oilfield Deaths Spur Safety Agency to Study FrackingThe Obama administration is investigating the health risks of hydraulic fracturing after at least four deaths among oilfield workers since 2010 in North Dakota and Montana. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health said the workers were exposed to high levels of volatile hydrocarbons during the drilling process known as fracking.

As for podcasts:

Meanwhile among the ‘Sue the Bastards!’ contingent:

2014/05/23: BBerg: FERC Pay-to-Save Energy Plan Thrown Out by U.S. CourtA federal regulator’s plan to pay smart-grid companies including Comverge Inc. and consumers such as Alcoa Inc. (AA) for using less electricity was struck down today by a U.S. appeals court, handing a victory to utilities that argued the system would discourage power-plant investment. The majority of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington agreed with the Electric Power Supply Association, whose members included PPL Corp. (PPL) and Exelon Corp. (EXC), that a federal rule encouraging electricity conservation “goes too far, encroaching on the states’ exclusive jurisdiction to regulate the retail market.” Under the rule, electricity users who cut consumption when prices and demand rise were paid the same amount as generators that produce electricity. The practice has been embraced because it can reduce the need to build additional expensive power plants and cut air pollution.

This Equador suit against Chevron/Texaco has been going on for decades:

It looks like these BP trials over the Gulf oil spill are going to take a long while:

2014/05/22: BBC: BP appeals to US Supreme Court over Gulf oil paymentsBP has appealed to the US Supreme Court over a ruling regarding how businesses must be compensated in the wake of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. On Monday, a court re-affirmed the oil giant must pay some businesses economic damages whether or not they can prove the spill caused losses. The ruling was seen as a blow to BP’s attempt to limit the costs of settling claims. BP initially estimated it would pay $7.8bn (£4.6bn) in business claims.

2014/05/18: OregonLive: The Hanford radioactive waste cleanup deal 25 years laterThe cleanup of the nation’s largest collection of radioactive waste left over from the production of nuclear weapons was supposed to be nearing an end by now. Twenty five years ago, a landmark agreement was signed to deal with the millions of gallons of waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeastern Washington. More than $30 billion has already been spent under the so-called Tri-Party Agreement signed by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington state Department of Ecology. If everything had gone according to plan, the work would be only about five years away from completion. But Hanford officials are still decades and tens of billions of dollars away from finishing the cleanup of the radioactive mess.

“A poor person is not someone who has little but one who needs infinitely more, and more and more. I don’t live in poverty, I live in simplicity. There’s very little that I need to live.” -José Mujica, President of Uruguay

Comments

This is not a time to give up or give in. Likely your hopelessness is at least partially driven by the abject failure of so many self-proclaimed experts and other kno…wledgeable people to say out loud what they know to be true about the way the world we inhabit actually works as well as about the placement of human species within the natural order of living things. Not speaking out loudly, clearly and often regarding what is known to be true and real gives rise to the hopelessness so many feel and to the false idea that there is nothing we can do. Perhaps the silence of so many ‘plays the lead role’ when it comes to killing the world as we know it. Not speaking truth to the powerful is unethical, morally outrageous, intellectually dishonest and a preposterous failure of nerve. Never in the course of human events have human failings had such profound implications for the future of life on Earth.
Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population
established 2001
Chapel Hill, NC

PS: I do not have to win or even believe I will win the human-induced struggle that is presented to all of us in order to speak openly, honestly and hopefully “the whole truth” about what could be real.

Hopeless > stevenearlsalmony • 4 days ago

What an eloquent description of the situation. The subject is taboo across all disciplines. No environmental orgs will touch it — even Zero Population Growth has disappeared. Talk about ignoring the gigantic elephant in the living room. What a bizarre species we are…and one that has limited time on the planet. Sadly we are taking many, many other species with us.

stevenearlsalmony • 12 days ago

What is true, real and somehow right can never be trivial. And yet ‘the brightest and best’ ignore, avoid and willfully refuse to examine, discuss and report on all as well as, perhaps, the best scientific research on the subject of human population dynamics. Knowledge of the population dynamics of the human species remains off limits, a taboo even among those in the newly established ‘Scientific Consensus on…Humanity…’, the relatively ‘ancient’ Royal Society, the modern American Academy for the Advancement of Science, other national academies of science, the Union of Concerned Scientists, demographers and economists everywhere. When and where are the self-proclaimed experts in population biology, other sciences and relevant disciplines going to openly acknowledge the uncontested scientific evidence of human population dynamics that appears to disclose simply and elegantly how human population dynamics is essentially common to, not different from, the population dynamics of other species; how human population numbers appear as a function of an available food supply? How more food equals more people; less food equals less people; and no food, no people.
Are the overproduction, overconsumption and overpopulation activities of many too many people not the primary problem confronting humankind in our time? Scientists have been seeing what is happening during the past 70 years as human population numbers skyrocketed worldwide. Scientists have been regularly reporting this widely shared and consensually validated scientific knowledge. But that is not the end of the story. There is at least one other question to ask that calls out to us for an answer, a question that any reasonable and sensible person would ask, I suppose. And that question is, “Why is the human population on Earth exploding? Why?” The question is straightforward. Where are the scientists with knowledge concerning why the global human population is skyrocketing on our watch? They are electively mute.Their conscious and deliberate collusion makes it possible for silence to prevail over science. This cannot be construed as correct behavior, especially by top-rank scientists. In diametrical opposition to the evolution of science extant, uncontested research related to the question of ‘why’ has been ubiquitously avoided or denied by many too many of the very experts on human population matters who are in agreement about ‘what is happening’ regarding the unbridled colossal growth of the human population on Earth. If science of ‘why global human population numbers are exploding’ is willfully ignored, how is the human community ever to respond ably to emergent and convergent human-induced threats to future human well being and environmental health? How can we speak about the necessity for advances in science, for fidelity to scientific facts and truth, for the individual and collective will to go wheresoever the evidence leads while first class scientists with appropriate expertise deny scientific evidence of human population dynamics/overpopulation? For self-proclaimed experts to refuse to examine and share findings of scientific research regarding ‘why the human population is exploding’ has got to be overcome, fast. Such a breach of one’s duty to science & humanity is a personal and collective betrayal of both.

Steven Earl Salmony A comment from a remarkably astute observer and friend…. Just to jump in to the discussion: Every so often this group hits the target. This amounts to an eloquent prologue for a undescribed action that should follow. But closer to a bulls eye would be something like a revolution.

But now we hit a wall, a singularity moment, where we know something big and important has to happen, will happen — we don’t know or agree just what, or perhaps we know, but are afraid to describe the ruthless immensity of the purpose driven change needed. The horror is – we know huge changes loom — generally predictable but not specifics of time or event. We can influence so little. But we are unable to call for changes to mitigate the looming decimation.

Our impact will be minute – we might mitigate global warming so slightly as to permit a select sample of multigenerational humanity to survive. Otherwise we are condemned to silently witnessing our demise – and by our silence, hastening it somewhat.

I am struck by the descriptions of various revolutions – where historians note that no one caught up in them knows they are revolutions, nor knows what that means, or what must come next. They know only that change must come, and so pushed forward with a different way of doing things. Perhaps called revolutions by their success, otherwise they would be a failed loss. Now comes the great test of our civilization, whether it can change sufficiently to allow human survival. I don’t think pure wealth will suffice. Nor ruthless power. Although wealth and power will positively bias short term survival for some – unless it is so organized and refocused – it means little for the survival of the human species.

Our planet is locked in to warming of 3° to 10° C no matter what we do about it. And the higher heating would assure violent extinction. The lower end merely great suffering and loss. We appear to be making choices that increase danger. It is a poor response to argue about the scientific validity of the projections. As if to see a house on fire, with far more fuel inside, instead of applying water, we try to exclaim and explain that it is not really aflame. Our house is next, and within, we don’t have enough denial left for facing that.

We have describe it well, we are fully engaged in losing the first great battle – the battle of perception. Since the 1980s – where media consolidation completely dominated and controlled messages we receive – we have lost the battle for truth or even open minded perception. But our defeat has been painless, accompanied by growing affluence, we have been surviving against a real enemy that contains and controls our mass communication. Carbon commerce has built its own media empires, and now completely dominates.

So now we are left to observe or witness – that our friendly media enemy has been promoting so much commerce that the real harms of overpopulation and climate change are side effects, collateral damage. Now the only hope is that mass media simply surrenders to the reality of the situation – and now must change completely to promote survival messages. All mass media turn around… like it did in WW2. Nothing will change until overwhelming message-making compels it. We can see the need, we can demand it, but until all mass media compels and promote fundamental changes, until then we are losing the battle to slow down our demise.

It just does not seem very likely. Indeed it may be a losing battle. In which case all we can do is witness. “There are now more 22 year olds in America, than any other age.” They must decide to radically change in ways that amount to revolutions. All we can do is exhort behavior that encourages survival.

Future, historians deciding our tumult was a revolution, means purposeful change would have succeeded. Whereas, extinction will be unrecognized, undescribed from within.